Male birth control device could make a 'vast difference'

Male birth control device could make a 'vast difference'A lot of men with kids, and even some without, have chosen to have vasectomies. Vasectomy, which involves cutting the vas deferens, can sometimes be reversed but it is usually permanent.An experimental Intra Vas Device (IVD) made by Shepherd Medical Company is designed as a more easily reversible take on the same theme.Apparently men have been rushing to get in on the clinical trial. But, based on what I read in the Times of London I think I will wait!

Surgeons testing the IVD injected a silicone gel through the skin of the scrotum directly into the vas deferens, where it will block the sperm. The main concern is the build- up of pressure behind the silicone plug, which could damage the sperm production glands in the testes.

Ouch!

Elaine Lissner, of the non-profit Male Contraceptive Information Project in San Francisco, said: "It is a lot easier to pull the plugs out than to find the best, most expensive microsurgeon to sew a vas deferens back together. But even if you can get sperm flowing again, the chances of pregnancy go down by about 10 per cent for each year the man had the vasectomy. Only time will tell if it'’s the same for IVD."”